Imagine a bar in the middle of your living room. With its industrial yet cozy atmosphere, new bar The Gordon evokes exactly this. The space is part of hotelier Jason Pomeranc’s Sixty Soho hotel, which just received a large-scale redesign by London-based firm Tara Bernerd & Partners. This is the design team’s third hospitality collaboration with Pomeranc.
The neighborhood had embraced the hotel’s previous iteration and formed a clublike loyalty to its bar, but over time, the two spaces grew distant despite their close proximity. All that has now changed. With The Gordon revitalizing what had become its rather sleepy predecessor, Bernerd suggests a future in which a cocktail lounge will feel part of its entire hotel. In this case, her firm has created a comfortable space that seamlessly connects to the second-floor lobby. “[The bar] is very much part of the world we were creating for Sixty Soho,” she says. “The design is not just a sister [to the hotel]; it’s part of the same body as the Sixty philosophy.”
Bernerd and her team sought an aesthetic that prioritizes an approachable feeling. The space, which features fireside seating and a warm, rich color palette, transitions smoothly from a daytime café to a nighttime lounge. Here, a guest can read a magazine or sip coffee in the sunny conservatory, then in the evening enjoy cocktails at the bar, which is made of zinc sheets. Adding to the bar’s industrial feel is cement tile flooring by Mosaic del Sur in sage and plum tones.
Toward the back of the space, the room opens up into a conservatory with a lush green wall and iron-and-glass doors from U.K.-based window maker Crittall. Lighting the space are a mixture of midcentury standalone lamps and custom-made wall fixtures that are replicas of vintage pieces. A rotating selection of art from Pomeranc’s personal collection—currently, works by Harland Miller, Will Cotton, Genieve Figgis, and Ryan McGinely—adorns the walls. “I think our audience today today is more design-savvy than ever,” says Bernerd of the Sixty Soho clientele. “One of the ways we work—which is very much my own philosophy—is to be as authentic as possible.” The food and drink offerings further The Gordon’s casual, homey vibe. The bar’s cocktails, which include the Fig & Sage (bourbon, xtabentun, fig preserve, sherry, lemon, and sage) and the Camp Oregon Fizz (old tom gin, applejack, lemon, cane sugar, rosemary, and fizz), are as tastefully done as its intelligent interior.
Tomas Delos Reyes shares a cocktail recipe inspired by The Gordon Bar.